Never Leave A Game Early

The puck simply bounced the right way for the Nashville Predators, who came from behind to beat the Red Wings 3-2 in overtime.

The offensive play of both teams seemed evenly matched in the first period, but it was the Red Wings who took a one-goal lead into the intermission. Max Kuznetsov recovered the puck after overskating it slightly in front of his own net, and passed it up the ice to Brett Hull. Hull passed over to Boyd Deveraux, who left the puck for Pavel Datsyuk. Datsyuk deked past two Nashville defensemen to shoot the puck past goalie Mike Dunham.

The second period was scoreless, despite two power plays by Detroit and three by Nashville.

Sean Avery and Vladimir Orszagh got into a fight with just under eight minutes left in the third period, and were given offsetting minor penalties for roughing. During the resulting four-on-four play, Kris Draper got the puck out from a tangle of players along the boards in the Nashville Zone, and passed to Kirk Maltby. Maltby fired on Dunham from the right circle. The puck bounced off Dunham’s leg pad, off a Nashville defenseman’s skate, and Maltby was able to grab it back and slide it underneath Dunham.

Vitali Yachmenev was able to bring the Predators within one with 4:20 left in regulation play. He attempted to make a centering pass from behind the Detroit net, but instead, the pass deflected off of Sergei Fedorov’s stick and into the net past Dominik Hasek.

Nashville’s golden opportunity arose when Tomas Holmstrom was sent to the penalty box for closing his hand on the puck. Fedorov and Brendan Shanahan did get a two-on-one shorthanded breakaway opportunity, but Dunham was able to block both shots, and the Predators regained control.

Nashville pulled Dunham in favor of the extra skater, giving them a six-on-four advantage, and Orszagh was able to flip in the rebound from a blue line shot by Petr Tenkrat, sending the game to overtime.

Andy Berenzweig scored the game winner with 2:20 left in the overtime period. Orszagh fished the puck out from a tangle on the right side of the boards, and passed it out front. Berenzweig grabbed it up and flipped it in over Hasek, before Mathieu Dandenault could get back to stop him.

Hasek stopped thirty-two of thirty-five shots during the game. Dunham stopped twenty-six of twenty-eight. The Red Wings will play against the Minnesota Wild Monday night at Joe Louis Arena.